Of Angels
by Gelliefishes
Summary: "Isn't 'di angelo' Italian for 'of angels'" "Uh, yeah I think so. And your point is...?" He's gotten plenty of nicknames before, but nothing compares to the one he has now.


**Of Angels

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_Ka-ploosh!_

Nico stared at the small ripples the Coca-Cola can he accidently kicked in made. Something in his gut told him that now was the best time to run away from the naiads before they start beating him up. A few quick steps backwards turned into a full-fledged run.

A few stares were given to him as he ran, but Nico didn't pay attention to those. He was just concentrating on finding a place where naiads won't go to beat him up. Rock wall? No, he can't survive on that thing if his life depended on it. Amphitheater? Maybe, but it was on the other side of the creek and he wasn't going to risk his life crossing the water. That only left the arena. Skidding to a stop at it, still panting for air, he quickly entered the arena.

_Wham! Wham! Bang! Whack!_

The sounds of a sword hitting a straw dummy in armor brought Nico out of his scared-of-naiads-drowning-him daze. He looked up to see that he wasn't alone in here. A girl with thick, stringy dark red hair pulled back into an off-centered ponytail was using her sword to slice and hit a straw dummy. Finally, after beheading the dummy, she sheathed her sword and went to get a drink the energy drink standing innocently off to the side. However, she stopped when she saw Nico standing their. The sword was unsheathed and its point was pointing towards Nico. "What the Hades are you doing here?" she asked him, taking a few steps towards him.

"I-I came here by accident," Nico said, taking a step back. "Um, I just hid here because the naiads would-" His explanation was cut short by a snort from the girl.

"That has to be the lamest excuse I ever heard," she said, lowering her sword. "Sorry for jumping to conclusions. Name's Izzie, daughter of Ares." She picked up her energy drink, walked up near Nico, and took a quick sip from the drink.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

A snort escaped Izzie. "Sorry," she said. "Couldn't help it."

"Why?" Nico asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Isn't 'di angelo' Italian for 'of angels?'"

"Uh, yeah I think so," Nico said. "And your point is…?"

"Dunno. Probably cause you're the son of Hades and you see angels when you die, I guess," Izzie said, taking another sip of the energy drink.

"Hm," Nico said. "I guess that's interesting. Never thought about it."

"Well, I'm glad you're thinking about it."

"So…" Nico said slowly. "I've never seen you around here. New to camp?"

Izzie's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Eh, I've been at camp for probably the last two months. And you?"

"I hop back between the Underworld, camp, and other places. Usually stay in one place for at least a few days then go somewhere else."

Izzie let out a low whistle. "Smooth, but then again I guess you can expect something like that from a guy whose dad is the death god."

"Actually it's Thanatos who's the death god. My dad is the god of _the_ dead."

Izzie rolled her eyes. "Death god, god of the dead, same difference."

Nico laughed. "So you're enjoying camp so far?"

Izzie shrugged. "I guess. I mean, the other Ares campers are pretty friendly I guess, if you count knuckle-touches and arm-wrestling challenges as friendly."

"Well, friendly is defined differently depending on who you are," Nico said, then looked at the straw head that had once been part of a dummy. "You're pretty good with a sword," were the words that came out of Nico's mouth without even realizing it.

"What?" Izzie looked at Nico.

Nico's face felt slightly pink all of a sudden. "W-well, what I meant to say was, er, that you're a good swordsman, er, girl. Swordsgirl."

Izzie laughed. "Thanks, though I'm not that good. I mean, I can beat most people, but I can't beat people like the camp counselors or most of the Athena cabin." Izzie's fingers started to tap against the hilt of her sword. "How about you?"

Nico blinked. "Hm, me? Oh, uh, dunno. I guess I'm okay. Still can't put up a fight against the Athena cabin though."

"Then I guess we're on the same boat," Izzie said with a grin. "Can I see your sword?"

"My sword? Why?"

"Come on, don't you have a different kind of sword? Stygian iron, right?"

Nico sighed. "Well, I guess showing it won't hurt." He unsheathed his black sword. The late afternoon sun made the sword glint in the glare.

Izzie let out a low whistle. "Nice," she said. "Probably better than my rusty sword."

Nico looked at her. "You wanna see?"

Izzie shrugged. "Meh, I got nothing better to do. Sure." She hopped up while Nico slowly got up. They moved past the still straw head and the dummies to the center of the arena. Just as Nico got in a good fighting stance, however, Izzie immediately lunged. Nico only had enough time to block it. He pushed his sword hard against hers, causing Izzie herself to be pushed back. After a few seconds of stumbling though, Izzie ran back at Nico. This time, Nico's block was a little weaker. In the end, his sword clattered to the ground and Izzie's was pointing right at his chest.

Izzie lowered her sword so Nico can bend down and get his. "Well, I guess that's one camp counselor I can beat," Izzie said.

"Best two out of three," Nico declared. Izzie raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. She immediately lunged. This time, Nico blocked it quite well. He pushed Izzie back again and he immediately lunged at her. At first, his blade pointed towards her chest, but just as Izzie was ready to deflect it, Nico quickly switched and hit the base of the blade. With a twist of his sword, Izzie's sword hit the floor with Nico's pointing at her.

"Wow," Izzie said. "I almost take back what I said before. But…" She smiled and lunged for the hilt of Nico's sword. Nico raised his sword to deflect, but Izzie was too fast. Nico's sword went flying out of his hand and Nico stumbled then fell on his butt.

"That's not fair," Nico said. "I thought we were gonna be fair."

"Who said that the children of Ares were fair?" Izzie said with a smirk on her face. In the distance, the conch horn blew, signifying dinnertime. "Well would you look at the time," Izzie said. "Later, Angel Boy." And without another word, Izzie sheathed her sword and walked out of the arena.

Nico was about to protest, but stopped when he realized what she had called him. Dazed, he got up and walked over to where his sword was. _Angel Boy…Angel Boy…_ The words echoed in his head as he bent over and picked up his sword. The nickname somehow made him feel different than the other ones he had, and he's got plenty of them. Death Breath, Corpse Face, Zombie Boy, and many more, yet he's never been called Angel Boy…

Nico sheathed his sword and stared off into the distance. "This is going to be one interesting summer," he said. "Maybe I'll stay at camp a little longer…" He smiled a little bit and walked towards dinner and the rest of camp.

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**Finally, after conceiving the idea around the same time as my last PJO one-shot, I finish this little one-shot. If you couldn't tell by the title of this story, the story was born when I was thinking of nicknames for Nico (eg: Ghost King, Death Breath, and probably a whole lot more but I'm too lazy to go digging through Nico/OC stories to check) and then remembering that I read that **_**di Angelos **_**meant **_**of angels**_**, which then made me think of the nickname of Angel Boy, which seemed like a good contrast to the Seaweed Brain-esque nicknames Nico has.**

**And if you couldn't tell by the seriously short paragraphs of "epic sword battles", I suck at action scenes. I'm more of a dialogue and humor writer rather than somebody who writes action and fight scenes. But, action or no action, I hope you liked my one-shot and review! And now I need to write the rest of the next chapter for my SC! story…**


End file.
